Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces At-Sea Monitoring 2019 Coverage Levels and Reimbursement for Groundfish Sector Fishery

March 28, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces that for fishing year 2019 the total target at-sea monitoring coverage level is 31 percent of all groundfish sector trips. Additionally, for fishing year 2019, NOAA Fisheries will continue to reimburse 100 percent of industry’s at-sea monitoring costs.

In 2018 and 2019, we received Congressional appropriations that have been and will continue to be used to reimburse sectors for 100 percent of their ASM costs. This reimbursement will continue at 100 percent for the 2019 fishing year. As in past years, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will administer the reimbursement.

For more information, please read the Summary of Analysis Conducted to Determine At-Sea Monitoring Requirements for Multispecies Sectors FY2019 available on our website.

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester groundfish sectors consolidate

March 28, 2019 — The decline of the region’s commercial groundfish industry has claimed another casualty — Gloucester-based Northeast Fishery Sector III.

The sector, one of two Gloucester-based groundfish sectors within the original 16 commercial groundfish sectors approved by NOAA Fisheries in the 2010 transition to catch shares, will be deactivated for the upcoming 2019 fishing season. The reason: its exhausted roster of vessels and permits won’t financially support an active sector.

Most of the remaining active vessels — estimated to be less than a half-dozen entering the new fishing season — and their permits will be rolled into Gloucester-based Northeast Fishing Sector II for the new fishing season set to open on May 1.

“Because of lack of activity in the sector, it just couldn’t support itself financially,” said David Leveille, manager of Northeast Fishing Sector II. “It just wasn’t generating enough income to justify remaining an independent sector. If we ever get Gulf of Maine cod back, maybe the sector can become active again.”

Leveille estimated Sector III vessels possessed a total of about 36 groundfish permits.

“But at this point, I don’t know how many of those will be active,” he said, adding that the addition of the Sector III vessels will bring Sector II’s active roster to 35 boats and about 128 permits.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

US judge rules cod quota set-asides for Alaskan cities are unlawful

March 25, 2019 — Washington, D.C. Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kelly ruled March 21 that the North Pacific Council’s Amendment 113 (A113) to the Bering Sea Groundfish Fisheries Management Plan does not comply with Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) requirements.

The amendment, adopted in 2016, provided 5,000 metric tons of Pacific cod as a set-aside for processing facilities located west of 170 degrees longitude. It named the specific cities of Adak and Atka in the US state of Alaska and the plants located there as the plants that would benefit from this set-aside.

Shortly after the amendment was adopted in late 2016, the Groundfish Forum, United Catcher Boats and other groups who rely on cod, flatfish, and other groundfish in the Bering Sea, filed a complaint challenging the rule, based on five separate claims for relief.

They contended first, that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) didn’t have the authority to “allocate shore-based processing privileges” and overstepped its authority with this amendment.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Michael Pentony: NOAA patching up relationships with fishermen

March 25, 2019 — So, how’s your March Madness bracket going? Clean as a pachyderm’s patootie? Not so much ours. Our bracket has taken on the very patina of a paper we once wrote on Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury.” That too was full of bad choices, ill-formed thoughts, scratch-outs and an imprint of our forehead where we seemed to have nodded off.

We took a break from hoops last week to check out most of the video of NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator Mike Pentony’s 90-minute sitdown with the editorial board of The Standard-Times of New Bedford, a fine news organization that does a standup job covering the fishing industry in America’s most lucrative fishing port.

The discussion was interesting on a number of levels. Among the most compelling was Pentony’s take on the “evolution of perspectives” that has shaped the relationship between NOAA Fisheries and the Northeast commercial fishing industry.

“It’s fair to say that six to 10 years ago, the relationships between the industry at large and the agency were in trouble, were a real problem. Maybe at an all-time low, I don’t know. But certainly, with my experience, it was a real struggle,” Pentony said. “I think many in the industry – not just the groundfish industry, but the industry at large – saw the agency as the problem. We’ve made progress over the years rebuilding a lot of those relationships, being confident (now) that we could walk in a room and not be perceived as the enemy.

Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times

Cod Fishermen Upend Carveout for Alaskan Villages

March 22, 2019 — A federal judge cut the line Thursday on the government’s effort to promote sustainable cod-processing operations in a pair of Alaskan fishing villages.

Unveiled in 2016, the new scheme carved out a portion of the Pacific cod fishery off the coast of the Aleutian Islands to be used exclusively each year by vessels that planned to process their catch onshore rather than at sea.

Pacific cod, in contrast to the much-suffering Atlantic cod, is one of the most abundant and lucrative species of groundfish harvested in the region.

Without government intervention, however, the National Marine Fishery Service argued that the Aleutian fishing communities of Adak and Atka would catch less and less cod, and struggle to compete as centers for fish processing.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

NOAA Fisheries Announces Transfer of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Quota

March 21, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is transferring unused quota of Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the Atlantic sea scallop fishery to the commercial groundfish fishery.

If the scallop fishery is expected to catch less than 90 percent of its Georges Bank or Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, we are authorized to reduce the scallop fishery quota for these yellowtail flounder stocks to the amount projected to be caught, and increase the groundfish fishery quota by the same amount. This adjustment helps achieve optimum yield for both fisheries, while still protecting from an overage of the annual catch limits.

Based on the current projections, the scallop fishery is expected to catch 80 percent of its allocation of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder quota, and 44 percent of its Georges Bank yellowtail allocation.

We are transferring 0.78 mt of Southern New England/Mid Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the scallop fishery to the groundfish fishery, and 18.53 mt of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder through the end of the 2018 fishing year (April 30, 2019).

For more information, read the rule as filed today in the Federal Register.

 

New England Council Update – March 20, 2019

March 20, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Here’s a roundup of upcoming meetings and new developments that are relevant to the New England Fishery Management Council’s stakeholders.

SCALLOPS:  New Bedford and Chatham, MA are the next two stops on the scoping meeting circuit for Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan.  The New Bedford meeting is today, Wednesday, March 20, and Chatham is up tomorrow, Thursday, March 21.  Both meetings begin at 6 p.m.  Also, a webinar is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., and more scoping meetings will be held next week in Virginia and New Jersey.  The series caps off in Gloucester on April 3.  Visit the Amendment 21 webpage to see the complete lineup and download the scoping document, press release, and staff presentation.

COMMERCIAL eVTRs:  The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is developing an Omnibus Framework to considerrequiring commercial vessels that carry federal permits for Mid-Atlantic Council-managed species to submit Vessel Trip Reports electronically (eVTRs).  This action, if approved, will apply to New England fishermen who obtain Mid-Atlantic permits for summer flounder/scup/black sea bass, bluefish, mackerel/squid/butterfish, and other species.  The Mid-Atlantic Council has scheduled a webinar for Monday, March 25 beginning at 9 a.m. to collect input from its Advisory Panels.  Details are available at AP webinar about commercial eVTRs.

ATLANTIC HERRING:  The New England Council’s Herring Advisory Panel (AP) will meet for a half-day on Wednesday, March 27 at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, MA.  The Herring Committee will meet in the same location the following day, Thursday, March 28.  The AP and Committee both will discuss upcoming herring actions, work priorities, 2019-2021 specifications, and more.  The agenda and meeting materials are available at Herring AP and Herring Committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:  The Council’s Executive Committee will meet Wednesday, March 27 in Wakefield, MA.  More information will be available soon at Executive Committee meeting.

SCIENTIFIC AND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE (SSC):  The Council’s SSC will meet via webinar on Friday, March 29, 2019 to discuss and comment on the Council’s research priorities.  Learn more at SSC webinar.

GROUNDFISH:  The Council’s Groundfish Advisory Panel (AP) will meet on Monday, April 1 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Logan Airport.  The Groundfish Committee will meet in the same location the following day, Tuesday, April 2.  Both will discuss Groundfish Monitoring Amendment 23, the Council’s Gear Standards Policy, and 2019 groundfish priorities.  More information will be available soon at Groundfish AP and Groundfish Committee.

ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERY MANAGEMENT (EBFM):  The Council’s EBFM Committee will meet on Thursday, April 4 and again on Monday, April 15.  Both meetings will be held at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick, RI beginning at 9:30 a.m.  The committee will discuss issues related to the development of a draft example Fishery Ecosystem Plan (eFEP) for Georges Bank.   More information and related documents will be posted as they become available at EBFM April 4, 2019 and EBFM April 15, 2019.

RECREATIONAL GROUNDFISH:  The Council has scheduled a series of listening sessions to solicit comments and gauge public interest on whether it should develop a limited access program for the recreational groundfish party/charter fishery under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.  The sessions, which include a webinar, will run from April 4 through May 10 from Maine to New Jersey.  For more information and complete details about the times and locations of the listening sessions, read the press release, public notice, and download the background document.

MID-ATLANTIC COUNCIL:  The Mid-Atlantic Council will be discussing several issues relevant to New England stakeholders during its April 8-11 meeting in Avalon, NJ.  The Commercial eVTR Omnibus Framework described above is on the agenda, and the New England Council will be holding one of its Recreational Groundfish Party/Charter Fishery listening sessions in the same location on Monday, April 8.  Take a look at the agenda at MAFMC Avalon, NJ.

NEW ENGLAND COUNCIL:  The full New England Fishery Management Council will meet April 16-18, 2019 at the Hilton Hotel in Mystic, CT.  The agenda and meeting materials will be available soon at NEFMC Mystic, CT.

MONKFISH:  The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, NOAA Fisheries) announced that it is implementing 2019 monkfish specifications as recommended by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils in Framework Adjustment 10 to the federal Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP).  The Monkfish FMP is a joint plan between the two Councils with New England having the administrative lead.  The framework contains specifications for fishing years 2017-2019.  At the time the framework was implemented, NMFS approved 2017 specifications, along with “projected specifications” for 2018 and 2019.  This week, NMFS said it does not expect 2018 catch limits to be exceeded, so 2019 specifications will go into place on May 1 as initially developed by the Councils.  These include a total allowable landing limit of 6,338 metric tons (mt) in the Northern Fishery Management Area and 9,011 mt in the southern area.  Find out more in the Federal Register notice and permit holder bulletin.

MAINE: Cod fishery plummets to least valuable year since 1960s

March 18, 2019 — Maine’s cod fishery, once one of the most lucrative in the Northeast, has declined to the point that it had its least valuable year in more than a half-century in 2018.

The state’s industry harvesting the fish-and-chips staple goes back centuries, and it once brought millions of pounds of the fish to land year after year. But data from the state Department of Marine Resources indicate the state’s cod was worth just over $200,000 at the docks last year — less than the median price of a single-family home in Maine.

That’s the lowest number since 1967, and a fraction of the $2 million to $16 million worth of cod fishermen routinely brought to land in Maine in the 1980s and ’90s. The volume of last year’s catch was also the second-lowest in recorded history, barely edging out last year at about 89,000 pounds.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New Haven Register

NEFMC eyes limiting for-hire boats

March 13, 2019 — Over the past few years, the New England Fisheries Management Council has nibbled around the edges of whether a limited-access program would make sense for the Northeast recreational groundfish party and charter boat fishery.

Now the council is looking to take a far bigger bite out of the issue.

The council, acknowledging that the prospect of limiting access to the fishery has split both recreational anglers and for-hire boat operators, is taking its act out on the road to solicit public opinion on whether the council should effectively condense the for-hire fishery.

“This issue has come from industry,” Janice Plante, council spokeswoman, said Tuesday. “Recreational fishermen have been talking about it for quite a while. It keeps surfacing in council discussions, but it’s been put on a little bit of a back burner. The council’s recreational advisory panel supports taking this step now to thoroughly air all the issues and settle it once and for all.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Groundfish Party/Charter Fishery: NEFMC to hold listening sessions on limited access

March 11, 2019 — The following was published by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has scheduled eight listening sessions to solicit public comment on whether it should develop a limited access program for the recreational party/charter boat fishery under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, better known as the groundfish plan.

Seven in-person sessions will be held April 4 through May 9 from Maine to New Jersey, and a final webinar will be held on May 10 for anyone who could not attend an in-person session or who has additional comments to offer.

Council Executive Director Tom Nies said, “We’re going out on the road to listen to what people have to say. The Council has not made a decision yet about whether or not it will pursue limited access. We know the recreational fishery has many differing opinions about this issue, so before we begin to sketch out the details of a limited access program in an amendment to the groundfish plan, we first want to hear from impacted fishermen about whether or not they want us to embark down this road.”

Read the full press release from the New England Fishery Management Council here.